Conveyors intended to carry directly objects or objects mounted on supports

ABSTRACT

This conveyor intended for the transport of objects possibly mounted on supports comprises a succession of standard rectilinear transport elements, each controlled by a reduction drive motor and each including at least two pulleys; a transmission element such as a chain or a belt, the said transmission element being provided with gripping members designed to catch hold of the objects to be transported or their supports, the said transmission element being passed round the two said pulleys; guide rails for the transmission element; at least one supporting surface intended to bear the weight of the object and its support; and means of transfer able to unfasten the objects or their supports from a standard rectilinear transport element and to engage them with another standard rectilinear element of the conveyor.

United States Patent Villemaud 1 July 11,1972

Jean Etienne Villemaud, Les Sagnes, 87, Saint-Priest Taurion, France[22] Filed: Oct. 30, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 84,990

[72] inventor:

736,274 8/1903 Lingo 198/177 R Primary Examiner-Richard E. AegerterAttorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen [57] ABSTRACT This conveyorintended for the transport of objects possibly mounted on supportscomprises a succession of standard rectilinear transport elements, eachcontrolled by a reduction drive motor and each including at least twopulleys; a transmission element such as a chain or a belt, the saidtransmission element being provided with gripping members designed tocatch hold of the objects to be transported or their supports, the saidtransmission element being passed round the two said pulleys; guiderails for the transmission element; at least one supporting surfaceintended to bear the weight of the object and its support; and means oftransfer able to unfasten the objects or their supports from a standardrectilinear transport element and to engage them with another standardrectilinear element of the conveyor.

9Clailm,4DrawingFigures PATENTEnJuL 1 1 1972 3.675 r54 SHEET 2 OF 2CONVEYORS INTENDED TO CARRY DIRECTLY OBJECTS OR OBJECTS MOUNTED ONSUPPORTS The present invention concerns conveyors intended to carrydirectly objects or objects mounted on supports and more particularlyconveyors capable of grasping and releasing either the objects carriedor their support, in any place chosen and without human intervention.

Conveyors are very generally used in all branches of industry wheneverit is a matter of transporting objects from one point to another. Now,it may happen that the objects to be transported have to travel over acourse in several stages, defined by a series of conveyors arranged oneafter another, but not connected by any material coupling. In such atransport chain, the transfer of objects from one conveyor to the nexthas been carried out by hand up to now, which can be expressed as a lossof time and as an additional expense by the permanent employment of aworkman. Then again, the handling of objects during their transfer maybe harmful to them, for example in the case of fragile objects or in thecase where conditions of absolute cleanliness must be respected.Moreover, such conveyors generally involve very costly mechanicalcomplications, notably in the changes of direction and incline. The aimof the present invention is to remedy these disadvantages by puttinginto effect a conveyor of extremely simple design, of versatile andvaried use, at a relatively low cost price and working without humanintervention.

Briefly, the conveyor according to the invention is made up of asuccession of standard rectilinear transport elements, driven byreduction drive motors, each one comprising at least two pulleys aroundwhich winds a driving element, such as a chain or a belt provided withgripping members designed to grip the objects to be transported or theirsupport, guide rails for the driving element, at least one bearingsurface intended to bear the weight of the object and its support andtransfer means able to separate the object or their support from astandard rectilinear element and to engage them with the next standardrectilinear element of the conveyor.

The transfer means may be made up of stops controlling a rotation of theobject and its support, enough to free it from the gripping members of astandard element and to fasten it to the gripping members of the nextstandard element.

According to one particular method of putting into efiect the invention,each of the standard rectilinear elements of the conveyor comprises twodouble grooved end pulleys, a driving element such as a belt or a chainprovided with gripping members and passing over one of the grooves ofthe said pulleys, a relay pulley positioned between the two end pulleysand a relay belt also fitted with gripping members and passing, on theone hand, around the relay pulley and, on the other, over the freegroove of the end pulley of the next standard rectilinear element of theconveyor.

So, the object carried along by a standard rectilinear element is takenover, from the relay pulley, both by the belt of the first standardrectilinear element and by the relay pulley, then by the relay pulleyalone and finally by the belt of the second standard rectilinearelement.

When the transport is carried out on the same plane, the standardrectilinear elements are generally used flat, the objects or theirsupport being carried along laterally. Such a conveyor allows everychange of direction to be carried out in the same plane, between twostandard rectilinear elements forming between them any angle whatever.

The changes of plane will be efi'ected by means of an inclined standardrectilinear element, placed in a vertical plane. According to theinvention the support comprises a verti'cal stem whose lower end isfurnished with a portion of appropriate shape for hosking the object,for example a ring, a hook or a curve and whose upper part is furnishedwith a suspension element intended to move on the bearing surface of thestandard rectilinear element, the said vertical stern being fitted withmeans of attaching the support to the lateral standard rectilinearelements, means designed to cooperate with the gripping members of thevertical standard rectilinear elements, at the time of a charge ofplane, and members to orientate the support around the geometrical axisof the vertical stem and means of re-engaging the support.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of an object support, shown in engagement withthe driving belt of a standard rectilinear element of transportaccording to the invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevation of a second method of realizing the objectsupport.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a switching point of object supports designedto direct the supports towards one of several standard rectilineartransport elements according to a first method of realization and FIG. 4is partial view of an elevation of a relay conveyor according to asecond method of realization.

With reference to FIG. 1, the object support according to the inventionis made up of a vertical stem 1 furnished at its lower end with anobject-carrier ring 2 or with any other similar gripping member, such asa hook, a curve, a magnet, or boat-shaped carrier, etc. The upper end ofthe stem 1 is solid with a suspension rod bearing rollers 4 at itsextremities intended to roll on a flat surface 5. Depending on thenature and weight of the object the rollers may be replaced by feltcushions, by pivoting castors or by balls. The suspension rod 3 bears asmall plate 6 appreciably vertical whose function will be explainedlater on.

A tube 7 is fitted over the stem 1 and fixed in position by any knownmeans. The tube 7 bears a plurality of radial blades 8 positioned atdifferent levels, a horizontal disconnecting rod 9 and a hook 10 bentdownwards comprising a vertical portion 1 l which goes down lower thanthe disconnecting rod 9.

This object-carrier support can be carried along by a relay conveyorformed of several standard rectilinear elements, each one of which, itis pointed out for the moment, comprise an element of transmission ofthe object or its support, fonned for example by a belt or chain. 13fitted with a gripping member 12, such as spikes, magnets, etc., andmoving inside a guide rail 14.

Of course, it is possible to provide a second hook similar to the book10, each of them being intended to fasten selectively to the grippingmembers of two standard rectilinear elements in a change of direction,as will be explained presently.

The rod 9 has a disconnecting function. Indeed, when in a train ofsupports moving on a standard rectilinear element, the first support isdisconnected and comes to a stop, the hook I l of the next supportslides along the disconnecting rod 9 of the support at rest. During thissliding the second support undergoes a rotation about the geometric axisof its vertical stem 1, in a direction such that the hook 11 isdisconnected from the gripping member 12. In the same way thedisconnection of the following supports is eflected step by step.

The support illustrated in FIG. 2 is distinguishable from the precedingone in that the various orientation and disconnecting members are fixeddirectly on the vertical stem 1 and in that the suspension rod isreplaced by a plate 3 provided with felt cushions 4 and having a ring 6'on its upper surface. Then again, the disconnecting books 10 arereplaced by a single double hooked element 15. The function of thedisconnecting rod of the previous example may be assumed by the slider34' itoclf By way of example, FIG. 3 illustrates an application of theconveyor according to the invention applied at the switching point ofthe supports. In this figure, each support is represented in plan viewby its vertical stem 1, by the double hook 15, by the direction changingblades 16, 17 and by the plate 6 of the upper anchorage. Because oftheir appearance, the supports will be referred to, in what fellows, ina picturesque way as bees.

The standard rectilinear elements are each made up of two pulleys 20, 21connected by a belt or chain 13 provided with gripping means asspecified above. The standard rectilinear elements are driven byreduction drive motors, in a manner known in itself. the cleamess of thedrawing neither the guide rails of belt 13 nor the reduction drivemotors have been illustrated. The standard rectilinear elements 23 and24 are placed fiat in a horizontal plane, for example the first floor Iof a warehouse in which it is proposed to switch objects having the samecharacteristics towards the same stockpile. The standard elements 25 and26 are placed in the second floor of the warehouse. The two stages areconnected by an inclined standard rectilinear element placed vertically.In the same way, the standard rectilinear element 28 connects the secondfloor with the third floor.

At each intersection of standard elements and at each change of inclinedisconnecting stops are provided, placed at different levels,corresponding to those of the direction blades. the stops act on theblade situated at the same level so as to disconnect the correspondingsupport from the first standard element in order to connect it to thenext element.

The working of the device in FIG. 3 is as follows:

The bees are driven along in the direction of the arrow by the chain onthe belt of the rectilinear element 23. Each of the bees is engaged witha gripping element of the chain or belt because of its left-hand hook.The fixed selective stop 30 only acts on the bees intended for followingstages, other than the first stage. The stop 30 acts on the blade 17 ofeach of the bees, thus disconnecting the left-hand hook from the band ofelement 23 and immediately connecting the right-hand hook in the spikesof the card band of the standard element 24. The bees such as 31 whoseblade 17 is not at the same level as the stop 30 continue to move on theelement 23.

The bees carried along by element 24 are all disconnected and connectedto the standard vertical lifting element by means of a fixed stop 32acting on the blade 16. The gripping members of element 27 push plate 6of the supports. The bees arriving at stage II are all disconnected by astop 33 which fixes them on standard element 26. Stop 34 selects thebees 35 intended for the standard element 25 and lets bees 36 pass tothe following stages.

Besides the fixed stops, such as 32 and 33 which act on all the supportsand the selective fixed stops, such as 30 and 34 which only act on asequence of determined supports, the circuit of conveyors may beprovided with controlled stops to cause the disconnection and connectionof a series of supports, the control being carried out either by anoperator, or by a support, or by a computer, ranges of stops allowingthe selection of difierent objects and forming a veritable filter,quantitative stops allowing the passage of a determined number ofsupports and then closing again. On the other part, a reconnectingmember may be associated with the standard elements, for example aspring allowing eventually the regular spacing of the objects. In somecases, it is advantageous to replace the standard elements by simplesloping ramps on which the bees slide as far as their destination. Atthe entry of each ramp a device will be provided allowing the support tobe placed on the ramp.

FIG. 4 shows a second method of putting into efl'ect the conveyoraccording to the invention. This conveyor is made up of rectilinearelements E, E, etc. positioned lengthwise, for example one after theother. Each standard element comprises two double-grooved and pulleys40, 41 connected together by a belt or a chain provided with grippingmembers. This belt 42 passes inside one of the grooves of the pulleys40, 41, for example the upper groove. The standard rectilinear elementalso comprises a double grooved relay pulley 43 placed between the twopulleys 40, 41 and connected to an end pulley 44 of the next standardrectilinear element E by a relay belt 45 passing in the lower grooves ofpulleys 43 and 44. So, the object and its support is successively takenover by belt 42 alone between pulleys 41 and 43, then by the belts 42and 45 between pulleys 43 and 40, then by the relay belt 45 alonebetween pulleys 40 and 44 and finally by belt 46 of the standard elementE.

Among the numerous applications of the conveyor according to theinvention the following are quoted by way of example: the directtransport of objects by a single standard element or simultaneously bytwo or more standard elements, means of pushing being provided in thecase where the objects are of unequal thicknesses and the transport ofthe objects mounted on supports for all industrial or commercial uses,such as production lines programmed or not, storage warehouses withmaximum use of volume, self-services, super markets, automatic sortingand storage of all objects, selection and return of all objects, controlbeing carried out by an operator or by a computer, etc.

It will be noted that because of the spacing out of the standardrectilinear elements and the picturesque representation of the bees itis possible to find the best solution for each particular case.

What I claim is l. Conveyor and transfer system comprising a pluralityof supports adapted to mount articles for conveyance therealong, eachsaid support comprising a vertically depending rod having at its lowerend a portion for suspending an article, a suspension portion fastenedto said rod at its upper end, hook means fastened to said rodintermediate said ends, radially extending elements connected to saidrod along the length thereof, a plurality of contiguously positionedidenticallyshaped conveyor elements disposed in a common horizontalplane, each said conveyor element including at least two end pulleys,stationary frame means rotatably mounting said end pulleys, endlessmotion transmitting means inter-connecting said pulleys, gripping meansattached to said motion transmitting means adapted to engage said hookmeans for driving the latter, guide rails for said motion transmittingmeans, track means disposed on said guide rails and adapted to beengaged by said suspension portion for supporting said supports,stationary orientation elements mounted on said frame means and disposedbetween each of two of said contiguous conveyor elements, saidorientation elements being adapted to cooperatively engage said radiallyextending elements during movement of the supports on at least one ofsaid two contiguous conveyor elements to thereby rotate said supportabout its vertical axis to an extent disengaging said hook means fromthe gripping means on said motion transmitting means and to engage thehook means with the gripping means of a motion transmitting means of thesuccessive conveyor element.

2. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidorientation elements comprise stops disposed along the path of thegripping means on the first of said two contiguous conveyor elements,and substantially upstream of the transfer point between said successiveconveyor elements.

3. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim 1, each said endpulley comprising a double-grooved pulley, a relay pulley disposedintermediate said end pulleys, a relay motion transmitting meansinter-connecting and extending about said relay pulley and an end pulleyof a successive conveyor element, and gripping means being provided onsaid relay motion transmitting means.

4. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim 1, comprising aninclined conveyor element for effecting changes in the plane of articleconveyance, an upper end pulley for said inclined conveyor element beingdisposed adjacent an end pulley of a conveyor element in an upper planeof article conveyance, and a lower end pulley for said inclined conveyorelement being disposed adjacent an end pulley of a conveyor element in alower plane of article conveyance.

5. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim 4, includinggripping means on a motion transmitting means for said inclined conveyorelement, said suspension portion of said support including a ringportion adapted to engage said last-mentioned gripping means forefiecting the change of plane in the article conveyance.

6. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim 1, said suspensionportion comprising a horizontal plate, and felt cushions mounted on saidplate for sliding movement on said track means.

9. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim 1, each of saidradially extending elements being of identical lengths, said elementsbeing fastened to said rod at spaced elevations, said orientationelements being located at corresponding elevations, so as to eflecttransfer of selective ones of said supports having radially extendingelements at said corresponding elevations.

1. Conveyor and transfer system comprising a plurality of supportsadapted to mount articles for conveyance therealong, each said supportcomprising a vertically depending rod having at its lower end a portionfor suspending an article, a suspension portion fastened to said rod atits upper end, hook means fastened to said rod intermediate said ends,radially extending elements connected to said rod along the lengththereof, a plurality of contiguously positioned identically-shapedconveyor elements disposed in a common horizontal plane, each saidconveyor element including at least two end pulleys, stationary framemeans rotatably mounting said end pulleys, endless motion transmittingmeans inter-connecting said pulleys, gripping means attached to saidmotion transmitting means adapted to engage said hook means for drivingthe latter, guide rails for said motion transmitting means, track meansdisposed on said guide rails and adapted to be engaged by saidsuspension portion for supporting said supports, stationary orientationelements mounted on said frame means and disposed between each of two ofsaid contiguous conveyor elements, said orientation elements beingadapted to cooperatively engage said radially extending elements duRingmovement of the supports on at least one of said two contiguous conveyorelements to thereby rotate said support about its vertical axis to anextent disengaging said hook means from the gripping means on saidmotion transmitting means and to engage the hook means with the grippingmeans of a motion transmitting means of the successive conveyor element.2. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidorientation elements comprise stops disposed along the path of thegripping means on the first of said two contiguous conveyor elements,and substantially upstream of the transfer point between said successiveconveyor elements.
 3. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim1, each said end pulley comprising a double-grooved pulley, a relaypulley disposed intermediate said end pulleys, a relay motiontransmitting means inter-connecting and extending about said relaypulley and an end pulley of a successive conveyor element, and grippingmeans being provided on said relay motion transmitting means. 4.Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim 1, comprising aninclined conveyor element for effecting changes in the plane of articleconveyance, an upper end pulley for said inclined conveyor element beingdisposed adjacent an end pulley of a conveyor element in an upper planeof article conveyance, and a lower end pulley for said inclined conveyorelement being disposed adjacent an end pulley of a conveyor element in alower plane of article conveyance.
 5. Conveyor and transfer system asclaimed in claim 4, including gripping means on a motion transmittingmeans for said inclined conveyor element, said suspension portion ofsaid support including a ring portion adapted to engage saidlast-mentioned gripping means for effecting the change of plane in thearticle conveyance.
 6. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim1, said suspension portion comprising a horizontal plate, and feltcushions mounted on said plate for sliding movement on said track means.7. Conveyor and transfer system as claimed in claim 1, said suspensionportion comprising a horizontally extending axle, and rollers rotatablymounted on said axle adapted to move along said track means.
 8. Conveyorand transfer system as claimed in claim 1, said radially extendingelements on said rod comprising blades extending transversely withrespect to the direction of article conveyance.
 9. Conveyor and transfersystem as claimed in claim 1, each of said radially extending elementsbeing of identical lengths, said elements being fastened to said rod atspaced elevations, said orientation elements being located atcorresponding elevations, so as to effect transfer of selective ones ofsaid supports having radially extending elements at said correspondingelevations.